The multi-purpose server/router was just an example. The point was that an off-the-shelf router will only ever be a router and while learning the ins and outs of Ubiquiti or Cisco or whatever vendors software can certainly be satisfying, the DIY router is just, in my opinion, more fun 
I have to respectably disagree about the fun part. 'cos what I imagine (be there done that) wonât turn out to be fun. Also fun is quite personal, subjective and seasonal. Put in other words adults find toys in many different ways. E.g. making a little router work at home in whatever way you want with minimal wattage is fun too. Perhaps power efficiency is another level more and more people start to think about.
Back to OPNsense/pfSense. Whatâs nice about them is the GUI. I meant they donât come with a CLI (which is big minus IMO btw). All supported features are configurable through the GUI. So many many knobs people can easily turn and try. Thatâs the only and major advantage I see in OPNsense/pfSense.
I would assert nothing under the sun in networking canât be dealt with in Linux the kernel. Whether itâs called EdgeOS, OpenWRT, VyOS or whatever doesnât matter. What these vendors added is a layer of sugarcoat (i.e. CLI and/or GUI) of configuring the router.
Talking about the sugarcoat. Iâm apparently inclined to Vyatta derived CLI more than a GUI such as OPNsense or pfSense. And do I want to spend time learning the inner workings of FreeBSD kernel? Not at all. Iâm very happy with Linux the kernel which luckily is much more dominant in lots of applications including routers.
Just some thought. Not intended to debate whatâs good whatâs not.
The biggest risk is that a misconfiguration could have your internet connected directly to the host system, but so long as you are aware of that and configure the network appropriately on the host system youâll be alright. Otherwise it is nice having dedicated hardware for the router so that if your server goes down for whatever reason you donât lose your internet connection / networking. But if youâre not turning it off all the time itâs not so bad to live with and minimising the number of computers you have running might make it worthwhile.
Today at Goodwill in my little town I found an Edgerouter X for 15$ so I guess maybe the universe wants me to try it. so for now since it was a steal I am going to at least play with it. I think may use it for the next year or so then buy some kind of AliExpress firewall appliance and switch to PfSense/OPNsense. I still may try to use Ryzen 1600 as a router just to tinker with. I think I could learn quite a bit from virtualizing Pfsense, but I could be wrong.
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Canât say no to $15. Good buy.
$15 is a real steal! The seller apparently didnât know the value of this gadget. Lucky you.